Cherry Tomato Banana Split
by Itoe-chan
Summary: They were best friends, but best friends can't be lovers. Everything would fall apart. "One condition. Don't fall in love with me." Watch as Sasuke breaks his own rule. SxS. R&R?
1. Little Star

_--_

They were best friends.

An avenger, a demon, and a cherry blossom.

They would always be there for each other to lick each other's wounds, carry each other's burdens, and cure one another's broken heart.

Even when he pushed away, they still tried.

Because Sasuke Uchiha had a huge hole in his heart, and his best friends did all they could to fill it with sweet sugary goodness.

But they failed. Because after all, Sasuke's eyes were blood red, and his heart was cold. His soul yearned for revenge against his one and only brother, and he would not allow himself to be distracted by anything else. His frozen heart would not be melted by anyone; nobody could get through.

Not Uzumaki Naruto.

And definitely not Haruno Sakura.

And eventually the hole ripped through and devoured him entirely.

Even if his best friends were like no other, access past the Uchiha's invisible barrier was restricted. Even to them, who knew him more than anyone ever could.

So he had left to pursue the only thing he convinced himself to have known.

Uchiha Itachi.

* * *

_They were thirteen when he left them._

The three companions were sprawled out next to each other after a difficult day of training. It was already dark, and only a single star was out in the night sky, glistening.

"Hey hey, Sasuke-kun…" A fragile pinkette made the hard, cold name sound as soft as a kitten.

Said boy only furrowed his eye brows and turned to face her. "Hn" He responded, using the most used item in his vocabulary.

And it was music to her ears.

Blonde hair and cerulean eyes turned to face her as well, curious to what the petite teen had to say.

The young cherry blossom was sitting up now, as she continued to speak. "Don't ever leave us." She commanded sadly, admiring the dark night sky with the eyes of a dreamer.

Sasuke closed his eyes, and brought his hand up to the arch of his next where the cursed seal was placed a while ago. The three mysterious curves that only Sakura had seen when they were first placed there by Orochimaru. He felt the cursed seal burn under his touch, and he cringed.

Sakura spoke again, turning her head to face the raven haired boy. "Promise me. Promise me you won't leave." She stuck out her tiniest finger towards him.

_Pinky promise._

He found it annoying how the single twinkling star in the sky had made her pleading eyes appear even brighter than usual.

"I promise." He reluctantly brought himself to say the words, and he brought his pinky to hers. He had hated how sure he had sounded.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow but then joined his pinky with his other friends, and then grinned sheepishly.

Sasuke had hated the sparkling hope that his words brought to Sakura's lively eyes.

"Because we have to stay best friends forever, right?" Her innocent lips moved.

Naruto nodded while grinning and Sasuke mumbled, "Right." His voice was quiet and hesitant but again brought life to Sakura's face. She was radiating with hope, her lips tugged upward into a sure smile.

Sasuke felt a searing pain in his neck, under the cursed seal.

He hated how gullible she was. How she immediately took in every word that came out of his mouth.

He hated how he could _lie_ so easily to her.

Sakura's lids lowered over her eyes, and she couldn't help but wish on the bright star that still hung high up in the sky.

_I wish we can be best friends forever._

But wishes are promises.

And promises are meant to be broken.

* * *

I could've sworn I heard a crash when he had left.

Like a glass vase coming in contact with the ground and shattering into a million tiny pieces.

Beyond repair.

It was my heart. It was our promise.

Broken and forgotten.

I cried and cried, waterfalls pouring out of my eyes until there were just no more tears to shed, until my eyes had turned red and puffy.

I even confessed, told him how much I loved him. But it didn't mean anything; not to him.

He had never cared about Naruto and me and much as we cared for him. And I knew things would never be even close to the way they were before.

And they weren't.

Things have changed, including me. My innocence was tainted, my hope had died, and my love faded.

Two years have passed since everything shattered.

And guess what?

I still couldn't gather the scattered pieces of my fragile heart. They lay next to the bench filled with memories, where I had begged him to stay with me.

If only I was stronger. If only my heart was made of stronger material, like steel.

Then nothing would've broke.

_Then, I could've moved on a long time ago._

* * *

And then he came back.

Or rather, Naruto dragged his sorry ass back.

Sasuke's pride had been damaged. His body was battered and bloody, just like Naruto's.

Sasuke's motivation to kill Uchiha Itachi had proved fruitless. He came back empty handed, still searing with rage and wrath towards his older sibling.

Stilling lusting for revenge,

For _blood_.

I had not joined them on that mission. It was offered to me, but it was not at all about the human ice cube. It was a higher level mission to find the Akatsuki's hideout, but the mission was a complete failure after the leaf shinobi ran into Sasuke and his crew, and the objective had changed.

A complete coincidence.

A long time ago, I had fallen for him. And I fell hard.

But nobody caught me.

And now, I was surprised to see him again after so long.

But yet, I didn't know what to think. Sasuke was always just Sasuke, my _best friend._

_My love._

I was ecstatic to see him in one piece.

And I honestly hoped with everything I had,

That his departure had only brought the three of us closer.

I should've learned by then that my hopes and the Uchiha,

Just don't mix.

--

_Twinkle twinkle little star,_

_Why does he seem so far?_

--

But she still tried. She tried to repair their broken friendship.

And Naruto understood and joined her.

The three musketeers sat at Ichiraku ramen, just like old times; just like they used to back when they did _everything_ together.

The light blue eyed boy vigorously shoved miso ramen down his throat. Sakura sweat dropped while Sasuke just shrugged, thinking that nothing had changed.

But it had.

Sasuke had ordered plain ramen while Sakura had ordered miso ramen just as Naruto had. Well, minus nine bowls that is.

"Teme," Naruto started loudly, his mouth full of half eaten ramen noodles. "Fow can dou eat dat crap? You must thave thome dull taste buds." A mush of ramen dripped out of Naruto's mouth as he yelled.

Sasuke was about to hit him in the head, but Sakura did it for him. "Damn, Naruto! Don't yell with food in your mouth!" Naruto rubbed the aching spot where she had hit him, as Sakura made a disgusted face.

"Sakura-chann" Naruto rolled her name off of his tongue as he whined.

Sasuke scoffed, "Annoying, like always."

Oh yeah, they were friends again.

"What did you say, teme!?"

_Besties._

"Dobe."

"TEME!!!"

"Annoying."

"ARG TEME!"

_Bonk._

"Owwchie, Sakura-chan, what was that for?" Naruto whined as Sasuke and he both rubbed the bruises she left on their heads.

"Now, if you guys are done passionately screaming out each other's names."

Sasuke and Naruto made a nasty face.

"Eww Sakura-chan, that sounded so wrong." Naruto said, turning blue and looking as if he might puke. Sasuke gave him a second bruise on his head.

Sakura shook her head and looked at the check the shop owner placed in front of them. "So Naruto, you promised to pay for our ramen, remember?" Sakura sighed as his face turned a darker shade of blue and he ran off screaming, 'CAN'T CATCH ME, BABYY!!'

_Is he drunk?_

Then she chuckled and turned to Sasuke, who was obviously annoyed. "Actually, Sasuke, I didn't bring any money with me…" Sakura commented, nervously.

He shrugged and reached into his pocket, pulling out the appropriate amount of money and paying it to the storeowner, who was still amused by Naruto's antics.

"Thanks." Sakura smiled, happy that she and Sasuke seemed to be on good terms. Or at least, as good as they could most likely get with Sasuke.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted, getting up to leave. Sakura got up as well, thanking the shop owner for the ramen. She walked next to him, humming a sweet tune and glancing up at Sasuke's flawless face every once in a while.

"Following me, are you?" Sasuke smirked smugly but didn't turn to look at her.

Sakura smiled, and then feigned hurt. "Aww come on, Sasuke, we're _best friends_ aren't we?" She emphasized the 'best friends' as she spoke.

Sasuke noticed the absence of his usually suffix, the "kun", and his smirk faltered a bit.

The Uchiha genius had made a realization.

"Sakura, you've changed." Sasuke stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Sakura scoffed, "Oh dear, I'm sorry, Sasuke-_kun_." This time she emphasized the 'kun', thinking that that was the change Sasuke meant.

But it wasn't.

Sasuke finally looked at her, his eyes engraving questions into her pink scalp. She started humming again; humming the tune to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Perhaps she hasn't changed much, after all.

--

_Up above the world so high_

_Like a sweet sweet lullaby._

--

We were best friends.

But things had changed. _We_ have changed.

We've always had strong burdens, even back then. Naruto's burden was the nine tailed fox demon inside of him. Mine was my will to kill Itachi; to avenge my family. Even Sakura was burdened, not only by her enormous forehead, but by her love for me.

But back then we pretended those things never existed. We avoided the truth, as if it was never there.

We pretended we were the only ones in the world, the only ones that mattered.

But still, I set up walls. Walls which Sakura and Naruto would struggle to break down. And every time they succeeded, I would only build stronger ones.

The lack of distance between us was uncomfortable and new to me.

And even now I continue to set myself apart from them.

Uchiha Itachi is still alive and somewhere out there, waiting for me to tear his body apart and spit on the remains.

Sakura had always loved me and would come crying to me expecting me to make everything better.

_We depended on eachother._

But where'd it all go?

We weren't kids anymore; we were fifteen years old and tons more mature. Naruto had grown a lot taller (almost my height), and Sakura's body has matured and also grown. And their personalities have turned almost bitter over the years.

Sakura's innocence and hope has wiltered, like a flower. Naruto's liveliness and warmth was still there, but was freezing up. And my soul had been entirely engulfed in icy cold darkness.

It was as if a continuous winter was cast upon us.

_Winter_, when all life and hope seems to die away and create an endless, cold wonderland.

_But after winter,_

_Always comes spring._

I was dragging by feet along the roads of Konoha, listening to the loud and annoying stir of people.

Boredom.

I had absolutely nothing to do. I had been put on probation for a full year as punishment for my crimes. Normally somebody with my crimes would get a more severe punishment, maybe even execution, but Sakura and Naruto saved my sorry butt.

My _best friends_.

They have a strong influence on Tsunade, and that plus the fact that I killed Orochimaru, a high ranking criminal, has gotten me out of severe punishment.

I continued down the path, and then my eyes picked out a girl with cotton candy hair; sakura. She was leaning against the railing on the bride, breathing in fresh air. The wind blew her hair, and she opened her eyes when she felt my sudden presence behind her.

I stood next to her, and listened to her breezy voice as she greeted me.

"Yo," Soft pink lips uttered.

She smiled softly and I just kept quiet, allowing myself to drown in the comfortable silence.

I blinked once. Twice.

And then it came.

And then she would shatter the silence, tear down my world.

"You know," She began, "I didn't know there were fishes in this river." Sakura looked over the bridge into the clear waters underneath us. Then she pointed, "But look, there's one! See?" She smiled and pointed childishly, satisfied with her discovery.

My dark gaze followed down her arm and eventually down to her finger, where a medium-sized gray fish jumped into the air and back into the water, and then squirmed silently in the river.

_She had broken down my walls._

Just like long before, when we were young and best friends.

She wasn't bothered when I didn't speak; she just continued to chatter away cheerfully.

And I didn't bother to push her away, to call her annoying. I didn't bother to rebuild my barrier.

Because I had to admit, her sweet and fluent voice was comfortable. It made me feel at home.

Her laugh was delicate. "Hehe, and then she almost threw Naruto out the window!"

She was telling me some story about Tsunade and Naruto. Without noticing, I half-smirked, half-smiled at her constant chattering.

She didn't expect me to speak. She didn't even expect me to listen.

And that's why she was my ideal best friend.

_But you can't fall in love with your best friend._

He didn't speak; he didn't even 'hn'.

But it didn't matter, because as I chattered away and watched his beautiful face, I felt something inside me turn.

_Twist and turn, baby._

His eyebrows were passive, and his thick-for-a-guy eyelashes were lowered over his malicious eyes.

**He's prettier than us**, my inner stated the obvious.

Yeah, that one kind of hurt.

But for a split second (maybe) I was silent, because something inside me was still turning, like cotton candy being made.

Uncomfortably sweet.

And I had remembered my old buried feelings towards the dark-haired Uchiha.

And then I remembered the twinkling star, the shattered glass, and our _broken promise._

* * *

"Owch!" I gasped, as me and Sasuke attempted to move from our spot.

He gave me a skeptical look, "What's wrong?"

When I didn't answer immediately he examined my body from head to toe, and I blushed noticeably. "Aye, stop checking me out!" I commanded embarrassedly, causing a few passing villagers to turn their curious heads in our direction (and a few to look away, blushing, because they were indeed checking me out).

I could've sworn the Uchiha was fighting a small blush as well but it was gone as quick as it came. "Who would want to?" Sasuke said as-a-matter-of-factly and furrowed his eyebrows. He began to walk, expecting me to walk with him.

But I felt a searing pain and didn't move from my spot. He turned his body to me, curiously. This time his expression grew worried and his eyebrows furrowed more intensely. "What's wrong?" He asked, almost angrily.

"Hehe," I started, nervously. "I kind of sort of twisted my ankle earlier. Give me a second." I bent down to try to heal my ankle with a chakra concentrated palm, but I was abruptly lifted off of the air.

The ground was moving?

I looked at the person carrying me and came to face none other than Sasuke. "Wahh!" I cried, surprised. He could've at least carried me more gently.

I was swung over his shoulder, and I struggled against his grip and told him to put me down. I banged against his back, ignoring the gossiping villagers who were watching us. But instead he just sped up.

"Sasuke, put me down or I'll sing!" I could feel his body stiffen, but he only sped up again.

I opened my mouth wide to sing-

"Sing and I kill you." I shut it abruptly, frustrated with the man carrying me.

Then we reached his house, one of the houses in the Uchiha manor which he had moved into when he had been brought back to Konoha.

He liked the area because it was isolated from the rest of the village, and he wouldn't have other villagers to worry about (none even passed by, they were scared shitless).

Nobody would question him.

Except maybe, me.

He set me down not-so-gently on his couch which was a dark navy color. I rubbed my butt and whined, "Owch, Sasuke, what the hell?"

He shot me a skeptical look. "Is that how you thank me?"

"For injuring my butt in addition to my ankle?" I commented jokingly. "Thank you Sasuke."

But my gratitude was still sincere.

Sasuke sat next to me on the couch. "It's was best friends do," he muttered and then turned to face me. "You said it yourself.

_Best friends._

All Sasuke and I were ever cut out to be.

I nodded slowly, "Mhhm." I was glad he finally acknowledged me as his best friend, once again.

"One condition," He spoke with a monotone.

I examined his face, but failed to see through his expressionless mask. I tilted my head to the side, as if I might be able to see his expression from a different angle.

"Don't fall in love with me."

_Too late._

I almost couldn't catch my mouth from hanging open and catching flies.

He lowered his eyelids over his eyes and his dark bangs framed his perfect face.

"Not again, right?" I murmured, barely audibly.

_Best friends can't be lovers._

He opened his eyes, slowly, and stuck out his pinky towards me; just for old times' sake. I nodded, took it, and squeezed.

"Pinky promise," I muttered.

He looked embarrassed at our childish action, while I just smiled back unsurely.

_Two broken promises; now we're even._

_--_

_Twinkle twinkle little star,_

_Show me where my lost hopes are._

_--_

**A/N: Woot woot, haven't wrote a fanfic in a while. I wrote this whole thing today, lulz (10 pages). It'll get better, I promise. Favourite, review, flame, whichever floats your boat. Tell me what you think, it really means a lot to a fellow writer n__n. Writing this one felt a bit different than my others, but not in a bad way (:**

**Now clickie that review button!! I can't wait to hear from you :D**


	2. Ashes

_Ring around the rosy_

_A pocketful of posies_

_Ashes, ashes_

_We all fall down.  
_

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called happily as she barged into said man's apartment unwelcomed. Her smile diminished, however, when her bestie was nowhere to be found.

"Where you at, Sasuke-kunnn?" Sakura shouted again.

Shrugging, she let herself in and decided to ravage through his refrigerator. Sakura skipped into his kitchen and opened the white fridge, distressed when she found nothing of interest. She was craving something sweet, damn it! But of course, Sasuke would never allow anything sugary and not completely bland within a perimeter of 500 feet from him.

At last, Sakura settled for an apple she found on his counter. Grabbing the green fruit, she strided into his living room and plopped onto his firm navy blue couch, making herself at home.

Less than 5 seconds later, Sasuke emerged from his bedroom. Sakura realized he must've come from his bathroom, considering he was clad in nothing but a towel around his mid section.

Sakura yelped obnoxiously and dropped her apple, surprised at the sudden display of skin she was witnessing free of charge from Uchiha Sasuke himself.

Sasuke grimaced at the unpleasant sound. "What the _hell_ are you doing here, Sakura?" In return, Sakura modestly shoved her face into a pillow she found on her couch.

She murmured into the pillow. Sasuke approached her, wondering what in the heck she was doing, unaware that it would cause an explosion.

"Can you just please, uh, put some clothes on?" She exclaimed suddenly, growing exceedingly embarrassed. He scoffed at her immaturity, and then proceeded to put on some pants. Sakura moved from the pillow and instead put her hands over her eyes, peaking through the gaps as he made the change from minimum coverage to, well, below average. Sasuke smirked as he mentally noted he should use this newfound weakness she had towards his naked body to his advantage in the future.

"Better?" He grunted, angrily. "Now, tell me who the hell let you in."

"I let myself in," Sakura replied simply, her own smirk growing on her face as she finally removed her hands.

"Leave."

"Sasuke, but we're bffls! I should be able to hang out here whenever I want!" The bothersome girl declared, earning a glare from Sasuke. He didn't retaliate, it was impossible to argue with her mediocre reasoning.

Abruptly, she stood up and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's go train," she commanded, tugging on him.

He stood his ground defensively. "I'm still on probation, remember?" He wasn't really allowed to do much, nor did he want to deal with Kakashi and Naruto. They were an annoyance. Then again, Sasuke didn't do anything anymore. He couldn't find a reason to.

She laughed lightly, "Oh Sasuke, don't worry. We'll cover for you." Sakura's eyes shifted to his naked upper half and she smirked as she poked his stone hard abs. "Besides, we wouldn't want these to go away," Sakura smiled deviously. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, silently uncovering the sexual implication in her words.

He shook away his dirty thoughts and returned his attention to the problem at hand.

Listening to Sakura always meant trouble. But at the same time, he didn't want to become weak. But did he even have a reason to be strong?

He was stuck in Konoha now, and Itachi and all his enemies were now taken care of. There was nobody to defeat.

Sasuke glanced at Sakura. _Friends. _Sasuke didn't DO friends. But if this friend gave him a reason to be strong, he could deal with her.

"Let's go," Sakura pushed.

Submissively, he allowed himself to get pulled out of his home.

* * *

_Ring around the rosy  
_

Oh, how Sasuke hated hospitals. He had been there far too many times before. He had memories of being stitched and patched up, cut into, bandaged, injected with pain medication, and being trapped inside the white walls for weeks without permission to be discharged. Recently, he has been visiting Sakura to reverse the damage done to his eyes as much as possible. After the battle with Itachi, Danzou, and all the other enemies on his pass to revenge, his black orbs were in a recovery stage. He wasn't allowed to use them for a timed period of time that Sakura had set for him.

But that's not why he was there today.

Looking around the little room, he never understood how a place meant to renew life could also greatly encourage suicide.

But oddly enough, he didn't mind sticking around Sakura's office, which was also in the hospital. The walls were adorned with all sorts of pictures and notes, and her desk was cluttered with all sorts of objects. The window was large and let a large amount of light in, which he hated. It was far too bright.

The place was brimming with life. It was so like her.

She kept two chairs, one for her and one for him, he presumed, both of which were a muted red. Her nurse outfit hung on a hanger nearby, and Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if she had worn it that same day, and whether or not it was still warm and smelled like-

Perhaps that's another reason he liked the office.

Then he remembered why he was there in the first place. Sakura had told, or commanded him, to be there so they could "chillax" at Ichiraku with Naruto later.

"Good news, Sasuke!" Came a high, overwhelmingly cheerful voice Sasuke knew all too well.

Then a second he recognized just the same, this one impossibly louder and more obnoxious, "Teme! Seriously, you need to hear this!"

He turned his head slightly, a dark eyebrow raised as the two excited imposers stood in the doorway of Sakura's hospital office. They were an hour late, he mused.

Sakura's pink choppy hair was in a mess around her smiling face, and Naruto was smiling wider than Sasuke had seen in a long time. He wondered why the two were coming in so happy together. The dark haired male was tempted to wipe the dobe's smile off his stupid cat face.

"Shishou said your probation is over," Sakura managed out, exasperated from the apparent run they had earlier. She approached him and declared, "She shortened it."

Sasuke's eyes widened minimally, surprised at the random change of heart the Hokage had.

Naruto's grin only grew. "She asked us and others a few questions about how you've been doing, and it turns out, you're not as much of a threat anymore." Looking at Naruto's smile with newfound meaning, Sasuke couldn't stay mad at him.

The nine tailed fox holder was the one who kept team 7 happy. Or at least, as close to happy as a demented family could be.  
"And she knows we've been training," the short pinkette said. "Why not put it to use and go on missions?"

Sasuke felt passive, unsure of why they were so overjoyed by this. But perhaps, he should have also felt happy. Because it meant he was getting Konoha's trust back.

And he was sick of being known as the "traitor" all the time. He had been betrayed his entire life, and now that he had found people that were less than likely to betray them, they were afraid of being betrayed by _him._

Sasuke Uchiha was not about to take his second chance at Konoha for granted.

It was all so twisted.

* * *

_A pocketful of posies  
_

Sasuke jumped through trees alongside Kakashi, Sai and Naruto. Sakura was off on a separate mission as a medic. Their first mission was to fight and defeat Kabuto, who had become Konoha's current most dangerous enemy. Sasuke was not supposed to be on such a grave mission yet, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

Kabuto had been defeated before, or at least he was thought to have been defeated, but now he was on the move again and they were given a great opportunity to sneak attack him without his knowledge.

Kakashi signaled, and they all scattered to hide behind different trees, surrounding the area they expected the culprit to be in.

Sasuke noticed Naruto hiding a few trees to the right of him, and they held each other's stare for a second before giving a slight nod.

On the second signal, they ambushed him.

_Boom._ An explosion.

Kabuto had expected this attack.

And another. This time, shaking the very Earth beneath them.

Sasuke grunted at the bleeding sharingan that instinctively activated in his eyes. He was blinded for a split second, but it was enough to mess him up.

He leaped into the trees and then into the open sky as soon as he felt the ground crumble, but still not soon enough. The pressure from the explosion would catch up with him in seconds. The last Uchiha felt a warm surge of chakra block the impact as his vision was blinded once more from sensing the massive rush of chakra.

And everything went cold.

* * *

Sakura walked in and solemnly seated herself on a chair in the hospital's E.R.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Her lips quivered. Her former sensei sat next to her, face in his palms. He had been there since morning. He hadn't moved or said a word since she arrived.

She wanted to reach out to him, to wake him up from his trance, because she was there and she wanted answers. But she was frozen. "Please, sense-i… say somethin-g…" Her voice diminished into a mere whisper as her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes grew moist.  
She finally found the strength to turn her attention to the motionless figure laying in the hospital bed, head covered.

Sakura's tears spilled over her lost friend's broken body.

Desperately, she wanted to hover her ungloved, shaking hands over him and heal his wounds that were lathered with dried blood. But he had no pulse; it was too late. She wondered how this had happened. She demanded an answer from herself on how she could let this happen.

Why she wasn't there to save him.

Then she remembered, she would be useless even if she was present. She had always been nothing but useless. And now he was dead.

And she would always keep losing those close to her.

Her recently recovered heart broke once again from her loved ones leaving her.

_Again._

A callused hand patted her head lightly, failing to take any of the pain away.

She hugged herself and trembled uncontrollably.

* * *

_Ashes, ashes_

_8 p.m._

Sakura closed the door to the lit hallway behind her and allowed the darkness to envelop her. Her battle-hardened hands felt her surroundings as she made her way through the pitch black.

She had just returned from a long and exhausting mission and her chakra was nearly drained into nonexistence.

But rather than being at home resting, it was far more important to be here, she decided. She searched the dusty wall for the light switch, unsure of what she'd find once they went on.

Not presently being patient or sharp enough to locate the switch she had turned on and off so many times before, she gave up and settled on moving blindly in the dark abyss.

She smiled sadly.

It was so like him.

Sakura grew worried. What if he had run away again, sick of all the betrayal? She should've been there with him, at home, where she belonged. Not on some mission. Medics were ample in amount, but there was only one Sakura.

But no.

She used what little concentration remained in her to _listen._

Breathing. He's here.

Growing sick of the suspense she felt coiling in her stomach, Sakura found the pathway she remembered had led to the living room.

And there he was. His black, still silhouette sat on the coach against the wall and she was then positive he had heard the news.

Slowly, Sakura made her way across the room and felt her muscles tense as she pulled the chain that hung next to the couch. Shadows flickered onto his face as a weak light filled a portion of the room.

Still dark.

But she could see him. He sat motionless with hunched shoulders, feet glued on the floor, and forearms resting on open legs. His eyes looked straight ahead when she saw him, but they went right through her.

Pitch black and empty.

He looked unreal, like a beautiful withering stone statue. It had only been a week, but he looked older.

Her voice came out a shaky whisper, "Should I leave?" She lightly touched his arm and he finally saw her. But he gave no reply. She turned away to leave him but suddenly felt a cold grip on her wrist.

Her heart twisted.

Sasuke tugged on her arm gently, pulling her into his lap. She sat sideways with her legs falling over one side of him and she wrapped her arms around him. He leaned into her slightly, but didn't return the embrace. She exhaled softly and her grip on him tightened.

"There is still some good left in this world," she whispered.

He didn't want to listen to her. How could he? Everything good he had ever known was ripped from him.

But still, a part of him believed her.

Because she was here.

And she was good.

_We all fall down._

**A/N: Been forever. I know. Im inconsistent. Really, what inspired me to write this was the last verse/section of this chapter I started with which was inspired by a picture I drew which was inspired by a particular verse in the song, "Wild Wolves" by Athlete. Check it out. So, I kind of wrote this chapter as I went along, going backwards. Which meant making alot of changes because the story line was uncertain for me. It's been a while. I did this more for fun than for anything.**

**And I KNOW, I will probably regret killing Naruto. But I felt like SOMEBODY needed to die to bring another aspect of the story out. Hopefully you guys won't mind too much.  
**

**Not sure if doing the nursery rhyme thing again was overkill this time. Review? I'd like to know what you think.**_  
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